Lupita Nyong'o Accuses Grazia U.K. of Photoshopping Her Hair Off Cover

UPDATE (November 16, 2017 8:34 a.m. EST) : Photographer An Le, who shot Lupita's cover, has come forward to apologize for Photoshopping the Oscar-winning actress's hair, according to The Guardian. He says that the retouching "was not born out of any hate, but instead out of my own ignorance and insensitivity to the constant slighting of women of colour throughout the different media platforms." He called the misstep an "incredibly monumental mistake" and says that though he didn't mean to be hurtful, he sees that his actions have had an effect opposite to his intent. "As an immigrant myself, it is my duty to be an advocate for the representation of diversity of beauty in this industry. I will demonstrate this in my work even more going forward.”

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Thursday evening, actress Lupita Nyong’o took to her Instagram to speak out against what she says are unauthorized changes to her Grazia U.K. November cover photo. The Oscar winner said that she was “disappointed” that her hair was edited to “fit a more Eurocentric notion of what beauty looked like.” On the cover’s final version, Nyong’o’s features are prominent, beautiful and certainly African, with the Photoshopped haircut fitting more with common (and colonial) projections of African beauty.

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The seemingly untouched photos shared by Nyong’o reveal a low, full puff of undeniably kinky hair. Nyong’o expressed her disappointment that not only had she not been asked if she'd prefer the new look, but it was a missed opportunity that was about more than just hair. “Being featured on the cover of a magazine fulfills me as it is an opportunity to show other dark, kinky-haired people, and particularly our children that they are beautiful just the way they are.” She ended the post with #dtmh, which is short for “Don’t Touch My Hair,” a nod to Solange Knowles’s song, and even perhaps Knowles’s similar trials with British newspaper, the Evening Standard, just a few weeks ago.

The singer’s late October cover of the weekly newspaper was met with rapturous applause that quickly died down after Knowles revealed over social media that her braided crown had been Photoshopped out of the final edits and the interviewer, Angelica Bastién, publicly disowned the piece. It was seen as a daft and tone-deaf move, considering that much of the Solange interviewed centered on the importance of her hair in her work, and her need for autonomy over her creative process and her body. On Knowles’s Instagram, she as well shared an original image before the Photoshop, with the hashtag #dtmh. The Evening Standard later issued an apology, complete with the original photo of Knowles’s braided crown.

The Fader reported that when contacted, Grazia U.K. issued an “unreserved” apology to Lupita Nyong’o and reiterated the publication's commitment to “representing diversity.” The magazine also posted an apology on Instagram, saying they would "like to make it clear that at no point did they make any editorial request to the photographer for Lupita Nyong'o's hair to be altered on this week's cover, nor did we alter it ourselves."

One thing to be learned from this: don’t touch her hair. Especially when it’s already perfect.

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Enjoy these amazing hairstyles in their unedited glory:

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